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Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Irene Lee.
As Chairman of Mariner Bridge Investments Limited it is my pleasure to welcome you to the Annual General Meeting of the Company for 2007.
The Company Secretary has advised that we have complied with the relevant requirements for convening this meeting and that a quorum is present.
And as the time set for the Meeting has arrived I now declare the Meeting open.
Firstly I would like to introduce the other Members of the Board:
Mark Phillips - our Managing Director
And our three Non-Executive Directors - Ian Ingram, Philip Lewis and Michael Perry.
I would also like to introduce Karen Penrose our CFO and Company Secretary.
And, Andrew Dickinson, who is representing our Auditors - KPMG.
As the Notice of Meeting has been sent to all shareholders in accordance with the Company Constitution, I propose to take the Notice of Meeting and the accompanying Explanatory Memorandum as read.
Before moving to the formal business of the meeting, I would like to comment on our business activities over the past 12 months and then to the formal business items. Once this is concluded, there will be ample time for shareholders to raise any questions for the Board or our Managing Director.
Firstly, let me comment on our business activities over the past 12 months.
Mariner Bridge Investments is a financial services company that invests in structured finance transactions. In essence, the Company invests in, or lends to, transactions backed by real assets, financial assets or cashflow. Our core asset classes are:
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Property, with our current focus being residential and commercial real estate in Australia and the US; |
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Infrastructure, focusing on renewable electricity in Europe, as well as investment in water in the US and a pipeline in Australia;
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Aircraft leasing; and
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Shipping. |
In addition, the Company has investments in a range of well secured senior and subordinated loans to a variety of industries including resources. It also has investments in US securitisations, which have been materially written down and now represent a small percentage of our portfolio.
In the year to 30 June 2007, the Company reported a net profit after tax of $4.1 million and declared a dividend of 2.3 cents per share, fully franked. The Company's total investments at the close of the financial year were $264 million spread across 30 investments, with an average investment amount of just under $10 million. Investments increased further to $317 million by the end of September.
The six months to June 2007 represented the first full reporting period following the Company's change of business focus in October 2006. The Board was satisfied with the Company's profitability in that initial period, particularly given some of the challenges faced by the business.
The majority of the Company's investments performed strongly in the period to June 2007 and have continued that performance in the current financial year. Our shipping and aircraft investments, in particular, have benefited from favourable conditions in those markets.
The underlying strength of the investment portfolio is best summarised by the high return on average investments, before provisioning, of 21% per annum for the period to June 2007. This exceeded our expectations.
The high returns from the majority of our investments, however, has been tempered materially by the poor performance of our investments in the securitisation market in the United States. These investments exposed the Company to the deterioration in the US housing market and have now been substantially written down in value.
The decision to invest in the US securitisation market was founded on a deliberate medium-term strategy and was done in partnership with a high quality US financial services firm. It was, though, an error. The Company's due diligence did not uncover the severity of the emerging difficulties in the US home loan market. Since that time, our full risk management and board approval processes have been implemented and these have tightened our procedures such that we do not believe such an error would be made today.
Despite the setback caused by our US securitisation investments, the Company has achieved much over the past 12 months.
We have put in place a management team and a Board that is dedicated, experienced and capable of growing the Company soundly and profitably.
We have raised $250 million of equity and put in place $210 million of debt facilities to facilitate the growth of the business.
And we have established a range of transaction partnerships with originators expert in our core asset classes.
Overall, the board is pleased with the progress that has been made and it gives us much confidence in looking toward the future growth of the Company.
The recent increase in our loan facilities will allow us to continue building our investment portfolio. Our core business of investing in structured finance transactions should deliver significant growth in earning per share over the next two to three years. We intend to continue our policy of fully distributing our profits as dividends. Thus growth in earnings per share will lead to corresponding growth in dividends to shareholders.
There are a range of funds management and other fee income opportunities that we will pursue that have the potential of growing our earnings per share even further.
In summary, the Board and management are optimistic about the ongoing success of your Company.
I would like to thank you for your presence here today and for your continuing support of the Company.
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